| She's certainly recovering quite well from the operation, but she doesn't — going back to teaching a class of 8-year-olds! |
|
First of all, C is the only possibility. Now, as for A:
do well by ---ing is usually
would do well by ---ing. It means
should ---. It expresses advice, a recommendation.
That project isn't going well. You would do well by starting over.
(You should start over. It would do you some good to start
over. It's a good idea to start over. I advise / recommend
starting over.)
Those who are prejudiced against blue collar workers would do well by spending a week in their shoes.
(They should spend a week in their shoes. It would do them some
good to spend a week in their shoes. It's a good idea for them to
spend a week in their shoes. I advise / recommend that they spend
a week in their shoes.)
Gas is expensive, but it may be even more expensive tomorrow. We would do well by filling up the tank today.
(We should fill up the tank today. It would do us good to fill up
today. It's a good idea to fill up today. I advise /
recommend that we fill up today.)
As the
would do well by idiom, the form in the example sentence doesn't quite fit. It ends up meaning something like
She's recovering from the operation, but I don't think she should go back to teaching 8-year-olds! but in an anomalous sort of way. To me it seems to miss because the
would is missing and a negation is present. And besides, it doesn't seem as
appropriate to say say
She's recovering, but I don't think she should go back to teaching 8-year-olds (which would probably not have an exclamation mark) as to say
She's recovering, but she doesn't feel well enough to go back to teaching 8-year-olds! The former is awkward in its use of the idiom and peculiar as a thing to say. The latter says quite naturally
She's well, but not that well!
CJ